I'm a freelance journalist with a lifelong interest in the paranormal.
Bigfoot, Nessie, ghosts, poltergeists, human oddness...
You name it, I'm intrigued
And she remains a popular target for trance mediums.
Leave the poor woman alone!
Monroe died in 1962. The cause of death was “acute barbiturate poisoning” and it was ruled a suicide.
But dark rumours still surround Monroe’s death. Some people believe she was actually murdered and the tragic star’s death is sometimes even linked to the alleged Kennedy assassination conspiracy.
Whatever the truth, lets remember her in her prime and anyone interested in the weird wide world would do well to remember the occasional truth in this quote from Ms Monroe herself:
Really, don’t watch it if you’re jumpy or of a nervous disposition. It may all be nonsense, all be true or a mixture of the two. But I’m new to blogging and I don’t want a Ghostwatch situation on my hands. (If you’ve never heard of Ghostwatch read this and this. And then get the DVD).
What do I think? Well, mostly I think most investigators who would kill to have that sort of thing on tape. Who are these lucky amateurs?
I also think that the poltergeist one is like that bit in Bedknobs and Broomsticks where the clothes move around – I think Angela Lansbury is responsible! Either that or rudimentary FX are being used.
But I don’t like to judge. I tend to become fascinated any time someone believes something. And provided vulnerable people are not being exploited for cash or other purposes then a good hoax always cheers me up! (In fact in a future post I will describe my own family history of hoaxing involving South American explorers, miners and fake passports…)
Which is not to say that I don’t believe in paranormal phenomena. Years ago I hankered after a T-shirt that read “I’m a Fortean, I have no opinion”. Sums me up really.
This video reminded me of the release of the great looking Paranormal Activity. Another movie in the Blair Witch, Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead handheld camera genre. Sadly, not out in the UK yet you can get more details at the website.
Has a Russian tourist really snapped the ghost of a 16th Century priest?
According to today’s Sun newspaper Russian tourist, Olga Chtalova spotted the ghostly image when she downloaded her holiday pictures. This particular photo was taken during a morning service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
I have to say I’m not convinced. Looks a bit like someone in pale clothes wandering past. Would be a bit more convincing if the church was empty!
I AM impressed with whoever managed to identify the actual century this ghost came from. I think I’d have a hard time identifying a priest’s robes from a particular century.
But, I’m also a bit disturbed by snapping photos during morning service – I’m not particularly religious but I don’t feel that’s right.
I love my Aussie soaps. I can even remember Paul Robinson’s FIRST wife, Terry (the mad one who shot him – I was off school with bronchitis).
Watching poor Sam (who is a bit whiny and annoying sometimes) suffer as Johnny Cooper’s ghost haunts her has reminded me how often Neighbours and Home and Away touch on the strange and unusual. So I’ve compiled a list of 5 strange phenomena that have cropped up in Neighbours and Home and Away.
1. Visitors from Beyond the Grave
This seems to happen a lot. Recently, as stated above we’ve have poor Sam being haunted by Johnny Cooper. Although as is almost always the case the rational explanation is that the stress is driving her mad.
Home and Away has had lots of these story lines. Does anyone else remember Bobby coming out of the fridge to haunt Ailsa (who subsequently turned out to have schizophrenia)? Handily available on YouTube…
And then when Alf had a brain tumour, he saw Ailsa rather a lot. Before seeing her one last time when she explained that this time it was really her and she had come to reassure him.
And Hayley always seemed to be seeing her dead Dad.
It happens on Ramsey Street too. When Julie died her daughter, Hannah, experienced visions of her deceased mother. This is a rare case of a soap visitation from the dead that wasn’t later blamed on a neurological disorder.
Boyd’s visions of his dead mother were absolutely due to neurological problems – he had a brain tumour.
Occasionally, the dead warn the living. While pregnant Steph Scully had recurring dreams of her best friend Libby’s dead husband, Drew. She correctly guessed that it was a warning and discovered that her breast cancer had returned.
2. The Near Death Experience
Sally has recently had her own encounters with the dead. She had a vivid near death experience during surgery. Her foster father Tom convinced her to return to the world of the living. Interestingly, just before this Sally had another strange experience. Her childhood imaginary friend, Milco, turned out to be real! He was a memory of her long-lost twin brother, Miles.
3. Urban Legend
We all know the old story of the ring in the fish don’t we? Where the woman loses her engagement/wedding ring (or throws it away in anger) and it turns up in the fish she later serves for dinner.
Well, Neighbours had their own variation: Libby’s earring. Libby lost her earring (a gift from loving partner Drew) but amazingly, Drew caught a fish (in the obviously fishless Lassiters lake – a fish there really is Fortean). And inside the fish….the earring
4. Telepathy
Just a few weeks ago Rebecca was uneasy and she was right! Declan was trapped under a collapsed warehouse. This sort of thing happens a lot but sometimes the psychic bond between soap characters is even stronger. Amanda was so sure that Belle was alive after the crash. And intuition has saved the day on many occasions.
Most startlingly, though shortly after they arrived, following some terrible accident (I really can’t remember what it was – I think maybe the school collapsed?) Jade and Kirsty turned out to have twin telepathy. This ws extraordinary enough – they weren’t identical. But subsequently it was revealed that they weren’t related at all!
5. Yowies
I was desperate to find a cryptid in Neighbours or Home and Away and sadly I came up with only one…Rick Alessi once pretended there was a Yowie in Erinsborough to impress some Japanese tourists. It’s pathetic really, years of Aussie soaps and not a single cryptid – I’m thinking of starting a petition.
Over the years Doctor Who has encountered a smorgasbord of Forteana.
1. An Unearthly Child
The very first episode introduces the Doctor and Susan (his “granddaughter”). Why is it particularly Fortean (apart, obviously, from from featuring time travel and alien visitation)?
Well, today a child like Susan could be labelled an Indigo Child. Indigo Children are, according to some New Age thinkers children with extraordinary abilities who represent the next stage of human evolution.
How does Susan do on a quick “Is Your Child an Indigo?” Survey? She may well be (but apparently I might have been one too!)
The Unquiet Dead touches on the Victorian craze for Spiritualism and seances. Psychic servant girl Gwyneth gets in touch with some “spirits”. But they are not quite what they seem…
4. The Satan Pit
Given that writer and producer Russell T. Davies is an atheist. (He’s even made this celebrity atheist list – so I don’t think it’s just a phase). So it’s quite a surprise for Satan himself to make and appearance in this episode.
This episode reminds me of the “MINERS FIND HELL” story: now sadly debunked.
5. Army of Ghosts
Lots of “ghosts” in this episode but as in The Unquiet Dead they are not what they seem. Remember: “A footprint doesn’t look like a boot.”
6. The Abominable Snowmen
Giant hairy beasts are attacking and anthropologist and explorer, Professor Travers is blaming the yeti! But as the Doctor points out this is very unlikely, real yetis are timid, shy creatures. The truth? Blame an extradimensional being: The Great Intelligence.
7. Horror of Fang Rock
It seems that there’s a sea monster around Fang Rock lighthouse. Are they safe from it in the lighthouse? Or is it really an alien entity with a sinister agenda? (HINT: People aren’t what they seem)
The episode may have been inspired by the real life disappearance of several lighthousemen in the Flannan Isles.The Doctor even quotes from a poem inspired by the case.
8. Pyramids of Mars
Mummies are killing people in a suitably creepy mansion. But they aren’t just reanimated Egyptian corpses they’re under alien control: like the yetis…and the Loch Ness Monster….and the ghosts.
9. The Daemons
Turns out that demons and horned gods throughout history have actually been aliens. Daemons from the planet Daemos who arrived a million years ago. Ever since they have been influencing Earth’s history.
This also features a rather nice Pagan lady called Olive Hawthorne, who is what I always think Dion Fortune might have been like.
10. Planet of the Spiders
Psychically charged stones. Incantations. The power of meditation. Giant Spiders. A stage psychic who only pretends to be a fake (do you think that’s what Derren Brown does?).
NOTE: Much of this information was gleaned from the internet to fill in my scant memories from Target books from my local library and UK Gold reruns. Basically, the first episode of Dr Who I remember is the one where Romana leaves and even that’s hazy.
Robbie Williams has seen UFOs THREE times. I’ve never even seen one! (I saw ball lightning once but that’s for another post…)
Apparently, he saw his first as a child. And his second while in Beverley Hills. According to the Mail hopes that one day he can become a “qualified Ufologist” (which isn’t actually a proper job). Maybe he can take a leaf out of Myleene Klass and Brian May’s books and train in astronomy. Astronomy and pop go together apparently.
UFOs aren’t the only paranormal subject Robbie finds intriguing. Ghosts are, according to the former Take That star, “from another world”.
If Robbie’s talent agency is trawling the web for his tags Anomalista would love to interview him for Enigma Street. For that matter I’d love to hear from Myleene or Brian too!
Enigma Street went through several name changes before I settled on this one. Extraordinary Explanations. Strange Planet. Quirky and Interesting and all were rejected. But one bold blogger suggested that I use my love of British and Aussie soap operas for inspiration by coming up with a variation on the greatest British soap of all Coronation Street. (International readers can check here to learn more about events in Weatherfield). So I plumped for Enigma Street.
Anyway in honour of Enigma Street’s debt to British soaps my first post involves the strange suggestion that the set of the sadly cancelled Liverpudlian soap is haunted. According to British tabloid The Sunday Mirror the cast and crew of new Brit horror flick Salvage have been bothered by a “ghostly presence” while filming on the former soap’s famous Close.
Interestingly, there are several reports of haunted sets and studios. And theatres are notoriously prone to hauntings. Check out Becky Walsh and Ian Shillito’s recent book on Theatre Ghosts for more.
Could stage and studio hauntings be an example of the Stone Tape Theory in action? Brookside Close saw 60 murders in the course the series. That’s a lot of acting. Could strong emotions have etched themselves onto the set?
